The Year Of ‘family Farming’

The United Nations has declared 2014 as “the International Year of Family Farming.”

The goal, according to the United Nations, is “to raise the profile of family farming and smallholder farming by focusing world attention on its significant role in eradicating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable development, in particular in rural areas.

Are those goals your goals? Do you think Upper Midwest agriculture would be helped or hurt if those goals were achieved?

The answers are complicated because there’s little consensus on what’s a family farm and what isn’t Smart, well-informed people, including many in the Upper Midwest, often have differing views. Drop me a line and share your thoughts on the issue.

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ABOUT

My name is Jonathan Knutson.

I'm a North Dakota farm kid who has spent my career reporting on agriculture and business. I'm a member of North American Agricultural Journalists and currently lead our Midwest region, our biggest in terms of membership.
The photo of the "KNUTSON RD" sign was taken on my family farm. Like me, the sign has been around many years. And like me, the sign, though worn at the edges, is still hanging in there.